Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades on Friday insisted that the smart bus stops being installed across Cyprus are not the wrong way round after Akel MP Costas Costa said their designs had been intended for countries which drive on the right-hand side of the road.

Both appeared on Alpha TV, with Costa saying the pillar at one end of the stops, which contains a screen with information, is at the wrong end of the structure, and impedes visibility for both would-be passengers looking out for buses and bus drivers looking for passengers.

On this matter, he said that recently in Limassol, two people were waiting for a bus at a smart bus stop, and they did not see the bus coming, and the driver did not see them, and as a result, they missed the bus.

He also criticised other aspects of the stops’ design.

“The cost is enormous; I am hearing unrealistic amounts. The stands are very small and only two people can sit on the bench at a time. The shelter is very small, and it does not even protect from the rain or anything. There is not even a bin,” he said.

Vafeades dismissed the idea that the stops are the wrong way round, saying that the stops’ designer had wanted to “serve disabled people, those with reduced vision, and the blind”, and that as such, the pillar was placed at the end facing oncoming traffic.

This, he said, “allows bus drivers to calculate where to stop so that passengers can go directly to the bus door”.

He added that the pillar also has an “audible signal” which sounds to inform people waiting that a bus is coming.

Asked if the same functions would be served if the pillar was at the other end of the stop, he said that if this were the case, passengers getting off a bus at its rear door would be walking straight into the shelter, where people would be waiting to get on.

He also said the pillar is not so wide that people would ordinarily not be able to see the bus, saying, “the width of this pillar allows for visibility for both passengers and drivers.

“It may not be ideal for able-bodied passengers, but we must accept that we have to make a small concession to accommodate blind people,” he said.

He added that the pillar “protects waiting passengers from possibly being hit by a car”, but did not rule out a redesign should it be demanded, saying the concept is being constantly developed.

“The stops will evolve; they will not stay as they are for ever. We want to develop them into a multi-use tool. In the future, we want to add free WiFi, there will be information about what is happening in the area, free drinking water. We want to evolve them into a hub, a space which will provide services to people,” he said.